Beware of "Crab Mentality", it might be killing your success 🦀

Hey, it’s been a while… anyway:

Have you heard of the "Crab Mentality" phenomenon? If not, here's the description:

"A crab placed alone in a bucket will easily climb out and escape, but when you place it with a few of its mates, this interesting phenomenon occurs: One at a time, as the crabs try to escape, other crabs will pull them back down to their misery and the group's collective demise."

Guess what? Humans do this too, and it might be happening to you without you even noticing.

People form groups with the best of intentions (I see this a lot with book clubs & accountability groups) which unintentionally holds everyone in the group back.

You also see it in friend groups, especially if one friend has big ambitions and starts to follow them. Friends may often try to "drag you back in the bucket" by telling you that you need "more balance" or that you're "not having fun". Deep down they fear that you might outgrow them so they unconsciously try to hold you down.

The people you spend time with should be encouraging you to "get out of the bucket" even if they themselves can't/don't want to get out. They should WANT you to win. They should PUSH you to do more than you even think you can do yourself.

Even better then that is spending time with people who are both "Already out of the bucket" and want to pull you up with them. This is why I loved my time spent in masterminds (like Sam Ovens Mastermind which is now closed) or being a member of Entrepreneurs Organisation. These were places full of people who were never threatened by my ambition or success, rather they felt I could be even MORE ambitious and MORE successful. I guess you could call this Reverse Crab Mentality??

Interestingly, even in the groups I mentioned above, there were always "cliques" of people who would form sub-groups which would essentially create a Crab Mentality environment. I always avoided these.

I even saw it happen within my own company over the last 13 years. Subgroups would form and they would all "hold each other back" from being promoted or moving forward. Only those who avoided or escaped those groups progressed.

I genuinely believe it's better to go at something ALONE than to have people intentionally or unintentionally hold you back.

Where in your life are you allowing Crab Mentality to hold you back?

Cheers,
Jonathan

P.S. One of the easiest ways to spot a group that has a Crab Mentality is to observe how they react to the success or progress of one of their members.

If the general reaction is of envy, negativity, or attempts to downplay or undermine that person's achievement instead of celebrating it and using it as a source of inspiration, then it's a strong sign of Crab Mentality.

Groups like this often see success as a zero-sum game, where the progress of one member is perceived as a threat or loss to others, rather than a collective win or an opportunity for everyone to learn and grow.